For twenty minutes, it seemed that St. John’s had simply been awed by the stage on which they stood. Twenty minutes later, they went into the locker room as winners of their first contest of the 2011-2012 season in the 2K Sports Classic.
After bursting out of the gate in the second half, led by six points in the first four minutes from sophomore guard Nurideen Lindsey, the Red Storm (1-0) got double-figure scoring efforts from four players in a 74-59 victory over William & Mary (0-1).
“It’s a good start,” said Moe Harkless, who finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds. “It’s something we can build on.”
St. John’s picked up more help on the block from God’sgift Achiuwa, who came one rebound away from a double-double, putting up 17 points and 9 rebounds.
The star of the show, however, was Lindsey.
After finishing the first half with just four points on 1-of-5 shooting, Lindsey ignited the transition game for the Johnnies coming out of the break. “There was some excitement out there,” said Lindsey, who was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the second half, en route to finishing with overall totals of 19 points, 5 steals, 4 assists, and just one turnover.
On a night when the Red Storm opened their season without head coach Steve Lavin, who is still recovering from prostate cancer surgery, the team honored him with their aggressive press defense, especially in the second half.
“We want to push them, we want to run,” said special assistant Gene Keady in the postgame press conference. “Those are two things Lavin wants to do, and I hope he’s happy with that.”
St. John’s did many things right offensively, but the keys to the victory were the executions made on the way to the basket. We expand on that in tonight’s lasting impressions from a successful debut.
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Lasting Impressions
– St. John’s won this game with an unbelievable plus-17 turnover margin, scoring 28 points off of turnovers. The Red Storm committed just four miscues to the twenty-one they forced, and none of those four came in the second half. The Johnnies also outscored William & Mary, 44-10, in the paint and 16-0 on fast breaks.
– It was a tale of two halves for St. John’s, as they scored 48 points after the intermission, when William & Mary took a 33-26 lead into the locker room. The Red Storm shot 68 percent (19-for-28) from the field in a performance that can draw comparisons to last year’s victory over Northwestern in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.
– Picked by many as a sleeper team in the CAA this season, William & Mary showed why they could be a force to be reckoned with in one of the strongest mid-major leagues in the nation this season. Despite getting 20 points from swing man Quinn McDowell, the Tribe were done in by the suffocating press defense of the Red Storm after the break. Said head coach Tony Shaver, “There’s only one stat you need to look at, and that’s the 21 turnovers.”
– Finally, the game ball goes to Nurideen Lindsey. Following an ineffective first half in which he forced many shots early on, Lindsey came to life after halftime, scoring 15 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting effort, while also contributing four of his five steals over the final twenty minutes.
[…] defensive pressure, using a 22-5 run and 17 second-half points from sophomore Nurideen Lindsey to defeat William & Mary, 74-59, Monday night at Carnesecca Arena, as part of the 2K Sports […]